Cutting In
by 2ns
Summary: Aang and Zuko are relieved to conclude the signing of the treaty that will allow them to begin building Republic City, and they walk into the reception to find Katara dancing with an unlikely partner. Both men are left eager to reconnect with their wives. Fluffy, Kataang / Maiko. Early submission for Kataang Week 2017, dance prompt.


I own no part of Avatar: Fan fiction only.

Cutting In

It was with great relief that Zuko and Aang approached the courtyard of the Earth Kingdom palace. After weeks of negotiations, demands, finger pointing, and arguing, the representatives from each nation had finally signed the treaty . . . Republic City would be a reality. Laughter and music filtered down the hall as they neared the head of the stairs that led down into the enormous sunken garden.

From the top of the stairs, they could see the festivities spread out before them. Rice paper lanterns bobbed merrily in the breeze from streamers across the courtyard, and the play of the fountains around the perimeter of the garden reflected the torchlight. The air was awash in the fragrance from a dozen different blooming trees and countless varieties of flowers arranged around low formal shrubbery around the garden. Formal robes representing the colors of each nation mingled and flickered in the shifting shadows. Overall, the scene was one of merriment. In the center of the sunken garden, revelers swirled together in a traditional Earth Kingdom dance.

Zuko ignored the petty nobleman tugging at his sleeve, still in full flow, gabbling along at the same staccato he had started when they left the throne room. He leaned close to Aang. "Do you see them?"

Aang glanced over at Zuko and grinned. "Not yet, but if there's dancing, I guarantee that Katara will be there in the middle of it. Mai on the other hand . . ." Aang shrugged, and leaned from side to side looking through the crowd.

Frustrated at being unable to find Katara, Aang bent a burst of air to boost him just a few inches above the crowd, and was rewarded by the sight of a raised hand flourishing elegantly above a cord of red silk on a slender wrist.

"I found Katara—Mai is likely to be close by. Come on—I told you she'd be dancing!"

The Avatar and the Fire Lord, rumored to be the closest of friends, were rarely to be separated at state functions, and their wives had also become unlikely allies. Katara and Mai's talents complemented one another, just as each woman complemented the strengths of her husband. Katara had a particular knack for working with common people, and they would often tell her the worries of their hearts, from rumors and gossip to secrets they dared not whisper to anyone else. Mai, on the other hand, had a reputation for being as lethal as she was beautiful, and though her beauty hid a startling intellect and loving heart, she made the most of her reputation. Katara was often impressed that Mai could turn even the most hardened men into babbling idiots by just crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. Both of them had become essential to navigating the constantly shifting political climate that continued to swirl around the Republic City project.

Zuko followed in Aang's wake as he snaked a path through the press of the crowd to the edge of the dance floor, but slammed into him when he stopped short. "What? What is it?"

Zuko stepped around Aang, raking him with a glare of annoyance before turning his eyes to the dance floor. At first, he couldn't see Katara. The dance had carried her down the line of dancers, and he could only track her position when he saw Katara's formal Southern Water Tribe robes swirl away from her body into the space around the dancers as she turned. Within several measures, Katara and her partner progressed back to their end of the dance floor, and he could see Katara's delicate fingers raised aloft and entwined . . . with Mai's. Returning to the head of the line, Katara hopped forward on her toes, meeting Mai so they could wrap an arm around one another's waists, and they turned before elegantly reeling away to take the hand of the next person in the line. After a few beats, Katara and Mai returned, matched opposing palms, and spun around one another again.

Zuko glanced at Aang and saw that he was thoroughly enjoying watching their wives dance, a bemused smirk on his face and his eyes sparkling with amusement. Zuko turned back to watch Mai and Katara race through the last few steps, Mai's skin flushed like a cherry blossom with the exertion, and he smiled. He had rarely seen her so thoroughly enjoying herself. When they finished the set, Katara and Mai leaned into one another breathlessly laughing.

"Should we cut in?" Zuko asked.

Aang shrugged. "They look like they are having a great time. Let them go one more round."

Katara paused, listening to the opening beats of the next number, bouncing on the balls of her feet in time. She leaned into Mai's ear and practically yelled over the noise, "OK! This one is a hornpipe—it's kind of like the slip jig. Do you remember it? We did that one a few weeks ago when we visited Iroh!"

"NO! They don't do those where-"

Katara waved away the explanation; she must have heard it several times that night already. "It's a traditional sailor's dance from the Northern Water Tribe. Just hold on and watch my feet—it's going to be _fast_. It might be easier if you carry the hem of your dress so your feet don't get caught."

Katara grabbed the trailing hem of her skirt and Mai's slender fingers, and lifted their joined hands high over their heads. "We step off with our left feet on four so that our feet hit the floor on beat one. Ready? Aaaaaand . . . go!"

Clearly, Katara was enjoying teaching what Aang imagined was a fairly reluctant Mai as much as she was enjoying the dancing itself. Aang leaned to shout into Zuko's ear. "Well, at least now we know what they are doing while we are in all those damn meetings!"

Zuko was surprised at Mai's agility. He knew that as a girl, she had had to study dance at the academy, but this certainly wasn't the kind of dancing they did in the Fire Nation. When Mai took a wrong step and nearly tripped, he realized why Katara was holding their hands aloft. It allowed her to watch Mai's feet and shout instructions without either of them overbalancing and knocking into the dancers around them.

Watching the women dance together, Zuko was also starting to see why Aang had said to let them continue. He watched as Mai's feet flashed through the steps, her legs bared by her lifted skirt, twisting and swirling. Mai had even shed the long robe and stiletto blades she normally wore strapped to each wrist and ankle, so that her toned arms were decadently bare to the shoulder. Mai's hair had started to tumble down around her face, and she was quite the blushing, lovely mess. Watching her move, heat had started to crawl up his neck, and he was starting to be anxious for the dance to end so he could dance with his wife himself. Zuko spared a glance around the room and noticed that quite a few appreciative, speculative glances were being cast at the lovely wives of the Avatar and Fire Lord, and he found himself one part jealously outraged, one part possessively pleased.

For his part, Aang loved watching Katara dance. It lightened his heart, and he could feel her joy flowing through her chi . . . it filtered into him and he felt it flutter beneath his ribs like the wings of a sparrow. He loved dancing with her, feeling her pressed against his chest and knowing that when her eyes flashed in challenge, it was for him alone. The traditional Southern Water Tribe dances were similar in many respects to Air Nomad dances, turning the gestures of martial forms into lyrical moving poetry. Even in the years before their marriage, they had eagerly turned to dance as an excuse to delight in one another's touch, daring to press their bodies together in the dance when they dared not do so at any other time.

Rarely did he have the opportunity to see her dance with the same kind of vigor and abandon with someone else that she enjoyed with him. She danced the way she did everything else—she held nothing back and gave her entire body and heart over into whatever she had committed to. He was surprised that just seeing the how her body swayed to the music and how her hips swung as she nimbly picked her way through the steps was nearly as affecting as dancing with her himself. Having barely seen his wife for weeks, he was becoming impatient to take her into his arms again.

Sensing that there were only a few beats of the song left, Aang stepped onto the dance floor and plucked Katara's sweaty fingers out of Mai's grasp. Katara looked up in surprise and flung herself into his arms.

"You're finally done! Thank the spirits!"

Aang grinned broadly in answer. "Do you mind if I cut in?"

Katara laughed and rolled her eyes. "We've been waiting for you to cut in for _hours!_ We got tired of waiting for the two of you to come dance with us."

Mai braced a hand on her hip and breathed deeply. "If you don't cut in, she's likely to kill me with all this 'fun'."

"Surely you have a dance left for me?" Mai turned in surprise to find Zuko waiting chivalrously with a hand outstretched for hers. Aang didn't hear her answer, but Zuko had startled a shy smile from her, and he drew her away.

Aang was pleased that the next song was a slow, melancholy Fire Nation melody, as it gave him the opportunity to press Katara close.

Within the circle of his arms, Katara rested one elbow on his shoulder and dabbed the sweat away, first from her lip and then from her temples. Katara laughed, "Sorry! I'm a mess!"

Aang pulled her tightly against himself and dropped his face into the skin of her damp neck, planting a kiss there. He breathed in her scent, salty and floral, and relished the heat pouring out of her body. He was stiff from sitting for hours on a cushion on the floor, and her soft warmth was a balm to his aching body. "You're perfect," he murmured.

As they drifted in the slow song, Aang guided Katara toward the side of the dance floor where a flowering tree created an alcove shadowing the space from the torchlight and lanterns. Mostly hidden from casual view, Aang allowed the fingers of one hand to drift from her waist and up her ribs to follow her bare arm as it draped across his shoulders. Aang drew one of her hands away from where it was clasped behind his neck so that he could press a kiss first to her palm, and then continue to trail kisses up the inside of her forearm in a line leading up to her shoulder.

Katara squeezed her eyes shut, enjoying the stolen intimacy of a private moment after so many weeks of barely seeing her husband. Most nights, Aang had returned to their apartment and fallen asleep poring over notes and documents at his desk, sometimes even skipping the evening meal. With his duties finally fulfilled, she was grateful to have him back.

Katara trailed both hands down Aang's back and rested them at his hips as he continued kissing her neck, savoring the saltiness of her skin. Katara's stomach swooped as he nipped at ear earlobe. "Aang?"

"Mmm?"

"Are you needed any more here tonight?"

Aang sighed. "No . . . I think that my official duties have been concluded. Why?"

Katara pressed up onto her toes to kiss Aang, and when their lips met, she opened her mouth to invite his kiss deeper. She allowed her hands to drift from his hips to gently clasp his buttocks and she leaned into his embrace, eliciting a deep sigh from her husband. Breaking away, she asked, "I was wondering if you'd had enough dancing for the night?"

Aang smiled frankly. "I've had enough of _everything_ for the night—all I want is you."


End file.
